Hunter Left Behind a Legacy of Good Will : Baseball: Spring training is not the same without the dean of Southern California baseball writers.

The annual rite known as spring training is in full swing, but for many in Southern California, baseball training camps will never be the same again.

For the first time in more than half a century, Bob Hunter, dean of Los Angeles baseball writers, is not there. Hunter died last fall, the day after probably the wildest game in World Series history, Toronto’s 15-14 marathon victory over Philadelphia. His death ended a writing career that began in the ‘30s, when the only major sports in Los Angeles were college football, horse racing and boxing.

He is missed by writers, players, broadcasters, executives and fans. There was hardly a writer who came along in those more than 50 years who didn’t get a helping hand from Hunter, among them this one. Hunter made sure this country boy from Missouri had a chance to get to know all the important sports people.

Because he was the one who cut up the pot for the high-low poker games at Dodger camp for more than 30 years, Hunter was given the nickname of “Chopper.” He could just as well have been called “Scoop.” Besides being an outstanding baseball writer and columnist, Hunter was among the best sports reporters in the newspaper business. He almost always had the story first.

Long before the Dodgers brought major league baseball to the area, spring training was a major event in Southern California. As many as half a dozen major league teams trained in the area, along with the Pacific Coast League teams. Hunter covered the PCL for the old Los Angeles Examiner.

In 1946, a dozen years before the Dodgers came west, Hunter left this note: “Check out the Pirates-White Sox game tomorrow at San Bernardino. The Pirates have a young slugger named Kiner. He’s something special.”

Turned out that Ralph Kiner was, indeed, something special.

Hunter and Examiner columnist Vincent X. Flaherty were at the forefront of the group responsible for bringing the Dodgers to the Southland.

But he is probably best remembered for lending a hand to young writers. Gordon Verrell of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, now the dean of Dodger writers, recalls his first meeting with Hunter.

“It was halfway through the 1969 season,” Verrell said. “I was replacing Fred Claire, who was joining the Dodger organization. I had been covering the Angels, but I didn’t know anybody on the Dodgers or in the National League.

“The second half started in Chicago. When I boarded the team bus for Wrigley Field, Hunter came up, introduced himself and sat down by me.

“When we reached the park he took me over to the Cubs’ clubhouse. We had to cross the field because the clubhouse was out in left field. It took longer than a normal walk because players and coaches stopped to greet Hunter. I was startled to see just how well everyone seemed to know him. He introduced me to all of them.

“He and Leo Durocher, then manager of the Cubs, greeted each other like old buddies. Then Hunter introduced me. Although he barely knew me, he told Leo, ‘This is one of the good guys, Leo.’ It was that way with Hunter the rest of the year. He made sure I knew everyone. It made it much easier for me.”

Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre also remembers an occasion when Hunter was extremely helpful to a newcomer. At the time, Hunter was working for the rival Herald Examiner.

“I had met Hunter a couple of times, but this was my first day at Vero Beach for The Times,” Dwyre said. “The story had broken that day about baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth fining some Pittsburgh players for a drug problem. My computer broke down.

“Hunter saw my plight. He didn’t just give me his machine to use, he stayed around for two hours to make sure I didn’t have any problems with the machine. He was somebody exceptional.”

Former Times columnist John Hall might not have been in the newspaper business if it had not been for a boost from Hunter.

“I had just been graduated from Stanford in 1950,” Hall recalled. “I had called and written letters to all the sports editors and received no replies. I was thinking that maybe I should go to graduate school.

“Hunter was my last hope. The father of a classmate of mine, Dean Borba, was a baseball writer, covering the San Francisco Seals and Dean had suggested I see Hunter. I called Hunter and he was at Wrigley Field covering a game. He invited me to come to a game and sit with him in the press box and discuss my plans.

“He introduced me to everyone, put in his newsy column, ‘Bobbin’ Around,’ that a classmate of basketball star George Yardley and sports editor of the Daily Stanford was looking for a writing job. He also called some people that eventually led to a job. He was always something special to me.”

One of my fondest memories of Hunter goes back to that fateful day, Jan. 7, 1962, when Los Angeles went from four newspapers to two when the Mirror folded and the Examiner was merged with the Herald.

Hunter immediately called Curley Grieve, sports editor of the San Francisco Examiner, telling him that the best baseball writer in the West (this writer) was available. Grieve offered me a job. Although I eventually joined The Times, it was a welcome gesture at a time of uncertainty.

Don’t get the idea that Hunter was a saint. He wasn’t. When he started in the newspaper business in the ‘30s, it was a tough, low-paying profession and many of its practitioners were transients and hard drinkers.

In his early days as a sportswriter, Hunter covered the San Diego Padres in the PCL for the Examiner. He wrote something about them that displeased the owner, who banned Hunter from Lane Field, home of the Padres. So, for a week, until the dispute was resolved, Hunter climbed a telephone pole outside the park and never missed a pitch.

Later, Hunter was part-owner of a bar called the Sports Club at Fifth and Hill in downtown Los Angeles. His friendship with so many baseball managers enabled him to throw a post-World Series party each fall during the ‘50s that was almost always attended by the managers of the World Series opponents.

Among the other celebrities who usually attended was UCLA football Coach Red Sanders. An interesting sight was Sanders, who had played semipro baseball at one time, giving former Dodger Manager Charlie Dressen tips on baseball. In turn, Dressen, a quarterback for the old Chicago Staleys, forerunner to the Chicago Bears, would diagram plays he thought Sanders should use.

A true friend is gone and spring training just isn’t the same.